by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

C.J. McCollum is serious about his college degree - the one he went back to Lehigh to get, the reason he passed up the potential for millions of dollars last summer.

So unlike many of his underclassman peers expected to be lottery picks in Thursday's NBA draft, McCollum is already working on his second career: journalism.

So far, McCollum has written a column for Sports Illustrated and draft diaries for NBA.com and has plans to interview Adam Silver, the NBA's deputy commissioner, on Thursday. This comes after months spent working in Lehigh's sports information department and a year after he announced his return to college in a first-person story for The Sporting News.

McCollum's agent helped find those opportunities, and, just like that, McCollum's résumé grew rather impressively the last two months.

"Think about a journalism major with those major publications already in his portfolio," Lehigh coach Brett Reed said. "It's such a wonderful head start for him. That's an indicator of the way he thinks big picture. Even during the midst of all the busyness he's experiencing, he wants to engage and grow in that particular area. He's intelligent enough to be able to do both."

Small school, big talent

Ah, yes, basketball is the other part of this, and he has done that very well. The Patriot League's all-time leading scorer averaged 23.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists a game as a senior in a season cut short by a broken foot in January. Now, fully healed, the 6-3 guard is projected as a top-10 draft pick, and he has drawn comparisons to Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, the NBA's rookie of the year out of Weber State.

Like Lillard, McCollum is a small-school guy who has proved he can handle elite competition - and thrive against it.

McCollum was a star in the Patriot League long before he became a household name by scoring 30 points to lead No. 15 seed Lehigh to an upset of No. 2 seed Duke during the 2012 NCAA tournament. He had proved to himself and to the nation that he could play with the big boys.

"It's crazy to think about, because he was the same player all year long," said Errick McCollum II, C.J.'s brother. "If he scores eight points in that Duke game and they lose by 20, is he not still a lottery pick this year?"

After the 2012 tournament, McCollum mulled over his options: go pro and fulfill a dream or put the money on hold and return for his senior season. He chose the latter.

"It was tough, because obviously it's a lot of money," Errick said. "We're not rich, but we do OK. My parents both worked (his mother as an insurance agent, and his father at a printing company), and I played overseas. He wasn't stressed, because if he needed things, he had people to come to: my mother, my father and me.

"It came down to what was best for his future."

McCollum was told he could go as high as the late first round or he could slip into the second round. He felt he could improve with another year at Lehigh, and in doing so, he could earn the degree he had promised his mother he'd get.

"You want him to be the example, a perfect story as far as coming back and having a big year," Errick said. "Someone chooses education over millions of dollars."

It had all the pieces necessary for the fairy tale, centered on the kid from Canton, Ohio, who was 5-2 and barely 100 pounds as a freshman in high school. Big Division I schools overlooked him, even after he grew a few inches.

It took a stroke of luck for the Mountain Hawks to even find him; then-Lehigh assistant coach Matt Logie noticed a box score from McCollum's junior year in which he scored 54 points. Logie called GlenOak High School to get a transcript.

The relationship flourished from there, and so did McCollum's game. He was named Patriot League player of the year as a freshman. Two years later, his veteran-laded squad beat Duke.

No regrets on coming back

Jump ahead to Jan. 5, 2013. Lehigh traveled to Virginia Commonwealth for one of its most high-profile games of the season. McCollum entered the night as the nation's leading scorer and left the arena on crutches.

"I remember the play like it was yesterday," he said. "I just did a normal hesitation, the guy kind of stood up and I froze him a little bit. I took the dribble and planted, and I felt fire. I knew something was wrong."

X-rays confirmed a break, a fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his left foot. The initial prognosis was an eight- to 10-week recovery period, but Lehigh didn't rush McCollum back; nobody wanted to damage his future career. The Mountain Hawks lost in their conference tournament; McCollum's college career ended on that January night. Reed, his coach, called it devastating.

"I don't have any regrets because I got hurt; there's no asterisk next to that year," McCollum said. "It was just upsetting to miss my senior year. I'd been playing so well, and our team was rolling. But I think it made me a better man."

Sitting out wasn't easy for someone who had played basketball all his life. Reed recalled days when McCollum would sit on a chair with a boot on his foot, working on ballhandling skills or trying, fruitlessly, to shoot the ball at the basket.

Eventually, he progressed to the point where he could do on-court exercises, then full-speed practice by mid-April. Over the last two months, McCollum has shown scouts and NBA executives he is healthy and ready to contribute as a rookie. He has impressed teams with his maturity and polished game, and he has gained admirers who enjoyed his column in Sports Illustrated that eloquently described the frenetic predraft process.

"I'm the same guy," McCollum said, before admitting one change: He has a new Twitter handle. "But I am taking a little bit more of a professional approach."

Nicole Auerbach, a national college basketball reporter for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @NicoleAuerbach.